The U-T San Diego asked four county residents to describe how they found jobs in this tough economic climate. Here are their stories:

It’s who you know

For three years, Carol Peterson had no alarm clock and did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

Sounds great, right?

“I think it’s an illusion. At least it was for me,” said Peterson, 69. “I just wanted more. I wanted to have purpose and direction.”

Peterson had retired from her job as a business coach in Carlsbad in 2009. She moved to Los Angeles and looked forward to the freedom. The joy eventually ran its course.

So Peterson moved back to Carlsbad and began looking for a job. It took her eight months to land work. She learned quickly that she had to adjust her search methods since the last time she looked — in 2001. That year, she simply responded to an ad. This time, that same approach didn’t yield results, despite efforts through search engines, Craigslist and temp agencies.

“And then I started working by referral, and it was a woman I knew who said, you need to get your résumé to my son, Justin Cressy, who works for Scripps, and that’s how that came up,” she said.

Peterson said she and Cressy, a recruiter for Scripps Hospital, interviewed for 45 minutes. She said she had some trepidation about how much of her experience to list on her résumé because she was afraid her age would cause her to be passed over.

That wasn’t the case at all. In fact, her years of experience helped increase her pay.

“She was willing to take any position so that she could continue to work,” Cressy said. “She didn’t pigeonhole herself into anything, and when she went in for that interview for that specific department, it was a match.”

Peterson was hired full-time as a patient service representative at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla on Aug. 1 after two months of temping in that same position.

A recent study of San Diego’s health care industry by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development identified supportive roles in health care as an appropriate occupation for workers over 55. The report said the field is growing and is aided by the maturity, reliability, sound judgment and interpersonal skills these workers possess.

Peterson’s now a self-described combination of a secretary, receptionist, detective, problem solver, all under the name of patient service representative.

Finding a home and work

At first, Samer Khouli was Jonathan Schiripo’s landlord.

Now he’s also his boss.

It was a twist of fate that brought them together in 2011.

That year Schiripo was living in Lakeside, coaching high school football and working part-time for an after-school program while trying to find work in law enforcement. He’d just earned a master’s degree in homeland security from San Diego State University after getting his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Still, Schiripo said opportunities at local law enforcement agencies were thin or nonexistent. He decided to broaden his search, when a little luck struck.

Schiripo, 25, went to a Bible study at a house in the Mission Bay area, where the owner of the house, Khouli, told him he had a room available for rent. Khouli happens to be CEO of staffing agency TargetCW, which has 28 full-time workers at its office in Old Town.

Schiripo, who wanted to move to the area to be closer to his friends, took that room in March 2011. Khouli got to know Schiripo as a responsible tenant, and eventually offered him a full-time job at his company.

Schiripo accepted that offer in July 2011 and has worked there as a recruiter ever since.

“He took a shot on me,” Schiripo said. “Hopefully, one day I’ll do the same thing to a young kid, too.”

Khouli said he has hired three or four people at his company who were previously his renters, although he said he places a high value on networking as well.

“Having somebody that refers you is like gold, because they can vouch for your character and who you are,” Khouli said, noting the Schiripo’s motivation and enthusiasm for hard work made him stand out.

When in doubt, send it out

Take a lesson from Alejandra Rosales: Go ahead and email in that résumé, even if you don’t think you’re qualified.

That’s what the Mission Valley resident did when she started her job search in July.

Rosales, 26, was about to finish a 14-month certification program to be a medical technician, and it was time to find a job.

She turned to Craigslist, and began to answer those ads. “I looked at all of the medical jobs and emailed résumés anyway, even if I wasn’t qualified,” she said.

Turns out, she was pretty qualified.

Rosales spent much of her 20s as a medical technician in the OB-GYN clinic at Scott Air Force Base in St. Louis. Honorably discharged in 2009, the experience served the former senior airman well.

She’ll be doing much of the same work in El Cajon. In fact, the Neighborhood Health Clinic in El Cajon called her back the same day she responded to its ad for a medical assistant. She started orientation last Monday.

Rosales said she began firing off résumés on Craigslist in July, about a month before she finished a certification program in surgical technology at Concorde Career College in Chula Vista. She said she applied to about 30 jobs online, getting three callbacks.

She said her experiences at Scott Air Force Base gave her an edge during the interview process.

“I was able to go into the interview and answer questions that I don’t think a normal person interviewing would have been able to answer,” she said, noting various questions on what to do during certain procedures and situations that may arise. .﻿

Don’t forget school ties

In 2009, Alyssa Navapanich, then a junior chemistry major at the University of San Diego, needed a job after the ice cream shop she worked at closed.

That’s when a duo of chemistry professors helped her with her next step.

Those professors, Debbie Tahmassebi and Tammy Dwyer, have a reputation of teaming up to guide students as they make their way into the industry. They used their relationships with Pharmatek in Miramar to help Navapanich, now 22, land a paid internship with the pharmaceutical chemistry development company.

She hasn’t looked back.

Navapanich began her internship at Pharmatek in November 2009, working 10 hours a week during the school year and 40 hours a week during breaks. She started slowly — washing glassware in the lab. But she worked her way up the internship ranks to eventually help manage her cohorts.

Pharmatek hired Navapanich part-time after she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2011. Last September, that job became full-time. She’s a quality control analyst, where she runs tests to see if new drugs stay potent over time.

“I haven’t seen the beach in years,” she quipped. “I always had two or three jobs when I was in college, so I was probably pulling 60-hour weeks, with classwork and work. I was definitely a little stress-ball during that time, but I think it’s all paid off in the end, because I’m in a really good place in my life.”